Training

Estelle spent the next two days working at The Beanery and spending time with Nona. The old woman was interested in the world Estelle grew up in. To understand her and strengthen their bond, they spent their time together in deep discussion about her life before Japan.

Quickly as it came, it was time for Estelle to go back to UA High School. Unfortunately, because she was running late - she took to the skies to make her way there in time as onlookers watched. Walking through the classroom doors, she immediately made her way to her seat while overhearing her classmates conversing with one another.

"Hey, did you watch the news last night?" Hagakure asked.

"Yeah."

"Did you see how everyone in the class was on-screen for a second? I didn't stand out at all," she continued in a displeased tone.

Estelle inwardly rolled her eyes at the teenagers sitting in front of her. Are these people that narrow-minded that camera time was necessary? Maybe she was looking into things too much, but their priorities seemed to be a bit skewed here.

Her attention was caught up by Sero, a boy who had tape connected to his elbows. "Who knows what would've happened if the teachers hadn't come when they did."

Ignoring Mineta and his pathetic fear, Sato spoke up in response, "But man, All Might was great. He pushed back those crazy strong villains."

Tokoyami nodded, commenting, "Yes, his strength is worth wondering at. Though I am curious. Estelle. How did you know the villains were coming? You spoke up before they even arrived."

The class slowly quietened at his question. They had all been wondering the same thing when they had the time to look back at the situation. They listened with full attention at the aloof girl's response.

"My quirk contains the element of earth. When the man with the portal quirk - Kurogiri - was making his way inside the USJ, he emitted vibrations that I could detect through the earth with his portals. It gave me enough time to give some warning but not enough to get everyone out - looks like I need to work on extending my range," Estelle explained thoughtfully.

The class looked at the girl with surprise at the fact she even answered the question. They were all secretly impressed by the versatility of her quirk and how it could be used. She was still a closed book, but it eased some of their speculations with her answer.

Estelle looked back at the class as they took in her answer. Midoriya was frantically writing in his journal at the first bit of information about Estelle's quirk, finally revealed. Tokoyami nodded back at the girl in thanks for answering before turning back to the front. The silence was interrupted when Iida rushed into the room.

"Everyone! Morning! Homeroom is about to start! Stop talking and take your seats!" He exclaimed.

"We're already in our seats. You're the only one who's not," Kirishima countered, causing Iida to sit down with a pout.

Ashido was the next to speak up, leaning back on her chair. She nearly fell but was thankfully saved from embarrassment by Tsu catching her. Estelle once again was reminded that her class was full of idiots. "Who's going to teach homeroom today?" She finally queried.

Tsu shrugged. "Mr Aizawa is supposed to be in the hospital recovering from his injuries, so-"

She was cut off by Aizawa, covered entirely in bandages walking into the room. Estelle had to hold back a snort at how ridiculous the man looked.

"Morning", he voiced.

"Your back so soon!" The class shouted, individually voicing their worries at his state.

"My well-being is none of your concern. More importantly, the fight isn't over yet."

Classmates look up at Aizawa in concern and puzzlement from his words and the implications. He had put them to rest with his following sentence, "The UA sports festival is drawing near."

"That's a normal school event!" They responded in reprieve.

Estelle zoned the class out as they discussed the event. She wasn't sure if she should partake in the sports festival; it seemed that the whole world would be watching. She couldn't really afford to have more eyes on her as it would raise questions. But forgoing the event would cause suspicion as well. It seemed like she wouldn't win either way.

"Time is limited. If you expect to go pro, then the path to your future will open up at this event. One chance per year - a total of just three chances. No aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event. If you understand that, then don't slack off on your preparations!"

Well, that decided it; it looks like Estelle was going to take part.

Estelle made her way past the cafeteria exit towards her tree; it was becoming a routine for her to take the time to be alone. She sat quietly while she ate her lunch and leaned back on the tree to relax.

'When I searched up portal quirks, there wasn't much I could find apart from some bartender. It seems like they are scarce, so it's unlikely they could portal jump to another universe. There was no quirk about world jumping either. Maybe people don't know they can do that? How annoying.

'Maybe people back at home are looking for me? They probably think I've disappeared or that I'm dead, forget another world entirely. It seems like I'm on my own. Gosh, I think I really am stuck here. There's no sign of the enemy that dropped me here either; not likely they would stop by. This sucks some major balls.'

By the time Estelle had come back from her mind, lunch was up, and she headed back to class.

As the day progressed, it was time for Estelle and her classmates to head back home for the day. When she made her way to the exit, she found that it was blocked by a crowd of students. Her classmates stood in confusion, and Estelle was not pleased about this.

The little worm Mineta cried out, "We can't get out! Why are you guys here anyway?"

"Scouting out the enemy, small fry. We're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack. They probably wanna check us out before the sports festival," Bakugo answered, as unimpressed as Estelle usually was. He walked up to the group at the exit before continuing, "There's no point in doing stuff like that. Out of my way, extras!"

The class howled out in disbelief at the explosive boy. He wasn't making a good impression on the other members of the school. Estelle was surprised at the figure walking forward to face Bakugo with a tired expression. "I came to see what the famous Class A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this?"

Shinsou Hitoshi stood in front of the crowd as he eyed Bakugo tiredly. He turned his head up slightly to scan the rest of the class before stopping at Estelle. He raised an eyebrow in slight surprise that the girl who never messaged him was actually in the hero course.

"Let me correct myself; Estelle here seems to be the only decent one in the class. Gives me a little hope for the future. Hey, Estelle. Why haven't you texted me?"

Estelle held a slight twinge in her gut at the fact she was brought to the forefront of attention but responded anyway, "Sorry, need to get a phone first. Probably should have mentioned that."

Hitoshi smirked at the girl, inwardly holding in relief when he realised the pretty girl wasn't ghosting him on purpose. He berated himself for days after giving his number once he realised that she wouldn't text him.

The class watched the exchange with wide eyes as the confusion melted their brains. Some of them were more irritated than others. How the hell was this guy better on the friend scale than the rest of them? Also, how does this girl not have a phone? Their attention was brought back to the lavender haired male when he spoke once again, facing Bakugo, who held a frustrated expression.

"Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned. Quite a few people enrolled in general studies or other courses because they didn't make it into the hero course. Did you know that?"

"Huh?" Bakugo responded smartly, Hitoshi continued on like Bakugo never spoke.

"The school has left those of us a chance. Depending on the results of the sports festival, they'll consider our transfer to the hero course. And it seems they may also transfer people out. Scouting out the enemy? I, at least, came to say that even if you're in the hero course, if you get too carried away, I'll sweep your feet out from under you. I came with a declaration of war."

Bakugo and Hitoshi stared each other down like it was a match for dominance. Estelle was disinterested in this conversation; declaring war for something like this wasn't impressive. Estelle had seen war; this was not it.

Another boy busted into the scene and shouted, "Hey, hey! I'm from Class B next door! I heard you fought against villains, so I came to hear about it! Don't get full of yourself!"

The annoyance Estelle had grown as the conversation continued; she had heard enough. Ignoring the boys having an ego fight, she made her way towards the crowd with an intimidating aura, causing them to stop and stare.

"Move it", she commanded, and the crowd jumped at the sharp tone. They immediately split apart for the girl to walk through and watched her stroll away.

Hitoshi's voice halted her on her way out. "That goes for you too, kitten."

Estelle paused in her step and turned back slightly to respond, her aura screaming that she wasn't intimidated in the slightest. "War? Hmm, I've seen war. This doesn't seem to come close. Though if that's what you're looking for, I can deliver. Let's see if you can leave with your pride intact."

She was gone before anyone could give a retort.

When Estelle was making her way back to the Beanery for her short shift, she was again stopped by a loud explosive voice.

"Hey, wait up, let me talk to you, Lioness!"

Estelle turned around to give Bakugo a questioning expression, annoyed that she was always paused before reaching her destination. She also noted the change of nickname but ignored it for now. He continued speaking when he saw her non-verbal response. "I said we would make a day of me beating your ass. Since we are all training, pick a day, and I'll crush you."

Estelle narrowed her eyes at the boy. She didn't think he was serious when he offered on the bus to the USJ. It was too late to back out now because she had already agreed previously. Estelle tried to never go back on her word. She shrugged in her reply. "I don't mind, I'm working the next few days so meet me at the nearby park on Saturday at seven. I'll get you trained up."

The boy widened his eyes at Estelle's words, spitting, "Train me? Hell no! I'll beat you into the ground."

Estelle shrugged again, not bothering to argue, "Okay."

Bakugo froze again, eyes wide. To him, he found it challenging to be confrontational with her. She was like a brick wall. Letting out a 'Tch' sound, he finally nodded and made his way in the opposite direction towards his home; turning abruptly with a final goodbye, he shouted, "Don't be late, Lioness or you'll pay!"

Estelle ignored him and continued walking.

Estelle made her way to the park; it was Saturday morning, and she was due to meet Bakugo to begin training. To her refreshment, the boy was already there in his workout clothing as he stretched his muscles, his usual angry pout laying on his face while he waited.

He turned his head to the detached girl and watched as she made her way to him. He was glad Estelle wasn't late; he had no way of contacting her otherwise. The shitty girl didn't have a phone.

Bakugo was a lot calmer when he spoke up, causing Estelle to double-take in disbelief at the gruff voice in low volume. "You're here. Good, let's run."

She nodded in response and moved in a light jog as they made their way through the woods. She was easily keeping up with the blonde but stayed back to keep her own personal bubble. Estelle was glad. She liked her bubbles.

They both remained quiet whilst they ran through the wooded area. Estelle had no qualms about that. She was glad she had some company, though she was stupefied that the company was a soundless Bakugo.

Bakugo kept his face forward, refusing to look at her. He realised that if he did look, Bakugo would most likely blush and that would not help his reputation, so he kept his murderous expression on his face. He was also impressed that the girl kept up with him with ease and picked up the pace.

They made their way to an empty clearing in the woods and stopped. Estelle began taking a second to view the area and its beauty before Bakugo growled to grab the cold girl's attention.

He smirked at her with his hands raised, quirk on full display while his voice rang out in the clearing. The gruff softer tone left as he challenged Estelle, "Let's start. First one down, loses."

Before he could allow Estelle the time to respond, he dived right into the fight full throttle and raised his fist to place the first and final blow. To his surprise yet again, Estelle simply ducked to avoid the throw. She slipped onto her hands and side, her leg following after with a spin to trip Bakugo up. He immediately fell to the ground since he could not catch himself in his shock and looked up at the girl from the grass.

"You lose, let's go again", Estelle commanded. Bakugo stood back up, grunting at the easy loss. He dived back in immediately and began to throw explosions around the clearing. Estelle was moving to dodge and duck around them, occasionally throwing up earth walls to block the blasts. He laughed in excitement as the fight continued. Estelle smirked at his joy while she blocked and evaded.

Jumping up to the girl with his explosions, Bakugo landed in front of the powerful girl, and they began exchanging blows. His hands were throwing left as she ducked right. Her own hands moved in counterattacks while they participated in a dance of fists and kicks.

To Bakugo's utter disbelief, Estelle grabbed his hand mid explosion, taking the force of his blow and threw him down onto the ground, causing him to lose again. He hadn't taken that fact in as he stared at the girl who held some soot on her clothing. "How the hell did you do that, Lioness?" He asked grumpily.

Estelle snorted at his childlike anger before retorting, "I've taken worse than a blast. I can handle it."

That wasn't the response Bakugo was expecting. His incredulity grew at the girl who had quite literally taken an explosion to the face and was still standing as if nothing had happened. He was thinking along the lines of her quirk helping her, but it seemed like that wasn't the case. What could be worse than that? He wondered.

The realisation of his loss came soon after. Snapping in outrage, he stood up once again. The many fights carried on after that. He was seething; he was losing over and over again. For the first time in his life, anything he threw at the girl was beaten with her prowess. He was beginning to run out of ideas.

"Again" was all she said after she put him to the ground for the twentieth time.

He jumped up. Tried an in-air attack only to be put to the ground.

"Again."

He used explosions to cover her eyesight and then attacked, only to be flipped to the ground.

"Again."

He tried blasting her over and over again but was kicked to the ground.

"Again."

He didn't use his quirk; fist's all the way. He was punched to the grass.

"Again."

He screamed in fury when his butt landed on the grass yet again. Standing up, he walked to the girl with boiling rage taking over his features. His fierce ruby eyes clashed with her bored and unimpressed expression that only helped to fuel his anger.

Before he could lash out, Estelle finally spoke a word that wasn't repeated constantly throughout the morning. "You are good, but your anger blinds you. If you truly want to be the best, you need to keep that in check. Your fury will only do you good if you can control it. I've been watching your moves; I have a few ideas."

He stopped, confusion showing on his face while he regarded the stoic girl and her dark eyes, which glimmered in the light.

"Hah?" He responded smartly.

Estelle sighed dramatically before explaining, "You don't think I was putting you down for the fun of it? No, how boring. I was watching the way you fought so I could examine what needs to be improved."

Bakugo was still as a statue when he took in Estelle's words. This girl just keeps throwing him for a loop. But if she was good enough to win every match, there was something to be learned. He was annoyed; he wanted to crush her to the ground to show her who was the best. That he was the strongest and unbeatable like All Might. This wasn't how he thought things would pan out.

Estelle moved to sit down against a tree. Bakugo remained silent as he followed and sat down across from her. He picked at the grass aggressively, pulling them out from the roots like he needed something to occupy himself.

Noticing that he was waiting for her to speak, Estelle began voicing her assessments. "Your explosions is quite a good quirk; I won't lie there. When the fight progressed, you produced more sweat and therefore produced more powerful explosions, which is neat. The downside to this is that as you while you continued to fight, your arms turned strained. I can still see that some of your muscles have cramped up. When your quirk relies on your sweat production, you're at severe risk of dehydration. How much water do you drink a day?"

Bakugo looked at the sitting girl like she was insane and answered, "A few bottles a day, I guess."

"Drink more; giving your body more fluids will give your body more to sweat. Quell the symptoms of dehydration, which are, in fact - cramps- and give you more leeway to produce more blasts and for a more extended period. Pushing your limits would also increase your sweat glands to hold more fluid as well.

"Lastly, your fighting skills and reaction time is great. Your anger in a fight also gives you an advantage since your heart rate shoots up and makes you sweat more. But it's a disadvantage in a fight if you let it take over like you did today and in the fight with Midoriya. Meditate. Let your anger boost you but not cloud you. Your fighting skills will improve by themselves over time with experience."

Bakugo sat quietly, processing the words Estelle had just voiced. He was still dumbstruck at the fact she didn't use the time to train but to help him. He was oddly touched by that.

"You got all of that out of one training session?!" Bakugo muttered to himself before nodding. Estelle responded back with her own nod before standing up and wiping the grass off her body that landed from Bakugo's escapade of ripping nature from its home.

"Let's head back."

He seemed to have lost his voice because he nodded again. The two began walking their way back in the wooded area. Bakugo's head remained lowered to the floor in thought while he walked next to the strange girl. She was okay with that; she liked her bubbles.

Once they were halfway back, Bakugo had finally gained his bearings and processed her words. He would never show it, but he was impressed by her analysing skills. She sounded like a true teacher. Like a pro hero, it was odd.

He spoke up, his tone less aggressive and gruffer like earlier in the day. He decided to take the time to ask questions. "You said you had work? Where?"

Estelle decided to indulge him because it was better than having an awkward atmosphere. "Yeah, I work at a coffee shop called The Beanery with Nona. It's why my schedule is different."

"Hmm", Bakugo acknowledged to show he was listening; he was surprised to find that she changed her schooling just to work at a coffee shop. 'There must be more to it than that. It seems dumb otherwise,' he thought but decided to drop it when another question popped up in his mind.

"You said that you had seen war when the other classes stopped by; the hell did you mean by that?" Bakugo asked. He noticed her wince but didn't comment.

"Well, uh, pretty much. If you were to call it something, I would call it that. I lost a lot of people." Estelle responded, her expression clearly showing she wouldn't go any further than that. Bakugo's burning curiosity simmered in his body, but he remained quiet. It wouldn't do any good digging anything else out. He could see the walls stacking back up around the unsociable girl.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, his mind jumbling with all the questions he wanted to ask but probably never would. He was pretty frustrated with himself; why did he ask those questions in the first place? Why does his mind trail back to her randomly? And why do new questions pop up when the old ones are answered? He wanted to scream at himself to snap out of it. He had a goal to keep, and that was being the best. Anything else could wait.

After they reached the park, Estelle immediately turned away to head back home. She paused slightly when his voice rang out a muttered "Thanks", and his footsteps followed, indicating his leaving. She was caught off guard by his words and was a little touched; he ignored his ego, even just for a moment.

She had a tiny smile on her face as she walked the rest of the way home.